Are There Too Many Eagles on the Bay?

Bald eagles soaring toward recovery in Virginia

First, some background. In the 1970s, according to Bryan Watts, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University, there were maybe 20 bald eagles pairs in Virginia. Now there are more than 800.  As for total numbers, including migrants and nonbreeders, Watts said, "It's likely that at any one time during the course of the year 20,000-30,000 eagles use the (Chesapeake) Bay," which in this case also includes its tributaries up to their fall lines.

With a total shoreline of 11,684 miles, that comes out to 2 to 3 eagles per mile, or a pair and a chick for every mile of coastline.  And we know that not every mile of coastline is suitable so, yes, I would say the Chesapeake is probably near or at it's reasonable capacity for eagles.

But there are consequences to this abundance of predator and prey, which scientists such as Watts and Clark are beginning to see. "Over the last several years, we're getting a lot more eagles coming in with wounds that are consistent with having been in a fight with other eagles," Clark said. In addition, he added, "Out here in Shenandoah Valley, we've got nests popping up all over the place."

That makes sense, Watts said, because while there is ample food for all these eagles, there isn't as much good habitat. Eagles are territorial birds, and when a juvenile, such as the one in Thursday's release, enters a given system, it either has to battle for space or spread its wings in search of new territory.

Watts said he thinks it's the overflowing Chesapeake Bay population that's fueling bald eagle population recoveries in neighboring states such as West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and others.

We see eagles fight once in while.  Either that, or have sex; it's not necessarily always clear which is which.  However, when you have four adult birds within sight at one time, and two of them are after each other? I'll name them Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice.

Clark described the issue as a "high-class problem to have. There's no downside to this because these birds are not generally preying on lambs or chickens or turkeys."

But while Watts said there's no real downside from an eagle's perspective, "the downside, in my view, is in this sort of nexus between the biology and our culture. If you're someone who doesn't love eagles and you're being restricted on your land . . ."

He said right now in Virginia there are 10,000 hectares of land on which use is limited because of bald eagles. The value of that land exceeds $4.5 billion dollars.  "(Bald eagles) continue to be federally protected even though, from a biological prospective, they have recovered," he said. "So it's a matter of what we're willing as a society to accept."

Like Clark, Watts sees this as a very positive story, but "there is a bit of a social burden in order to carry this population of eagles, and I think we're going to head toward finding out what the limit of that burden is."

Well, they're not trying to nest on my back lot (yet), or otherwise restrict me from making money, so I guess it all works out.  Besides, the eagles are cool and photogenic, so it's perfectly OK if some guy I don't know loses the use of his property and livelihood.